The Habs lost their first game at the Bell Centre on Sunday, and boy did they lose royally. The Calgary Flames barely broke a sweat in their 6-2 win over the Canadiens, silencing a typically electric crowd in Montreal.

Johnny Gaudreau, Josh Jooris and the Flames were full value, but I doubt Canadiens' ticket holders were happy about paying to watch that one.

To a man, no one in the Canadiens locker room was willing to suggest this blowout was percolating on the heels of a three game road trip in Western Canada that saw the team only manage three goals while stealing away 50% of the points available to them. They all referred to it as an isolated non-performance.

It was a strange night in the NHL, with the Flames wiping the Canadiens, the Buffalo Sabres achieving a comeback win over the Detroit Red Wings and the paltry Carolina Hurricanes taking care of the Los Angeles Kings. What a payout that three game parlay would've offered.

But there was nothing mystical about this Habs loss. For a team that had been scored on first in 9 of their first 11 games, being out-shot 19-4, outscored 2-0 in the first period probably wasn't in the game plan. For a team that came into the game as one of the most penalized teams in the league, it's a safe assumption that the Canadiens didn't intend on marching to the box eight times, only managing to bring Flames' players with them on two occasions; only generating one powerplay--a convincing reinforcement of how weak the effort was in this one.

Simply put, the Habs competition level wasn't up to par, and not even Carey Price could bail them out of this one.

What do you think is more concerning for this team right now, the fact that the 3/33 powerplay ranks 26th out of the 30 teams, or the fact that they draw less penalties than 25 other teams?

Take you pick, those numbers are bad either way.

And from an individual standpoint, you never win when your best players are far from being your best players. Max Pacioretty came to play, but it was a rare off-night for Tomas Plekanec. Price was shelled; though you can't really put that on him. Andrei Markov was far from poor, but also far from being the best player on the ice. And though you can't blame P.K. Subban for all that went wrong for him in this one, it sure looked like nothing went right.

In fact, when I asked Subban what his assessment was of his own night, he asked frankly for mine.

"Looked like nothing could go right," I said, with Subban tripping over his own blueline on the Flames' fifth goal and him being caught on with an empty net for the Flames' sixth goal fresh in my memory. It wasn't all bad; some of it was bad luck.

"That sounds about right," said Subban, adding "obviously, I know I can be better."

"I'm on the ice for six goals. We give up scoring chances left, right and centre. But, I don't believe that's the team that we are, so..."

So, they'll have to go out and prove it as early as Tuesday when the Chicago Blackhawks come into town. As for Sunday's game, not so sure how quickly they'll file and forget it. One would imagine the team will digest and dissect some of this, with Michel Therrien saying there was no positive to take out of it.

*************

1) Okay. Let's talk about the lineup, the line combinations, player utilization, all that minute-by-minute dissection we can't ignore.

Weise going from sitting for Moen to playing on the first line doesn't make much sense, does it?

Moving Galchenyuk to centre, then moving him away from centre after he played half a period while spending the other half on the trainer's table doesn't make much sense, does it?

P.A. Parenteau playing 2:04 in the second period while the team's chasing the game, doesn't really make a lot of sense, does it?

Shifting out Weise for Prust on the top line, to create a spark, reeks of not making sense, doesn't it?

Lars Eller on the wing?

Continuing to shift the fourth line some 10 minutes into the third period, with the game still in reach is a little hard to understand, isn't it?

Pulling the goalie down three, after that effort, after Therrien was unwilling to pull the goalie last year in a game in which the team was only down one...

Okay, we get the point. This is all fair after a loss, isn't it?

2) Jiri Sekac and Michael Bournival. If that debacle can't get them into the lineup, what will?

3) At what point do Nathan Beaulieu and Jarred Tinordi play in the same game?

4) I have no analysis to make sense of the amount of infractions the Canadiens seem prone to committing, especially in contrast to the minute amount of powerplays they manage to draw.

This is supposed to be one of the fastest teams in the league. They're supposed to play at a pace other teams can't or don't want to match.

Are the players feeding into frustration too easily?

Let's not get into the conspiracy theories on officials hating on them.

We know Therrien's not dressing the fastest lineup available to him, but still, the numbers shouldn't be where they are right now.

So here's what I'll offer. The team isn't committed enough to playing on the inside. They aren't keeping it in check when the opposition is trying to frustrate them. All of this accounts for more than not drawing penalties.

The Habs rank 24th in goals per game, and they're tied with Tampa for the best record in the Eastern Conference.

5) The worst Habs stat of all: outscored 13-4 in the first period this year. Outscored 10-9 in the second period. Up 14-11 in the third.

Subban's right. This team can be so much better.

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